1.Why you were looking
forward to going to the ground (or not as the case
may be):

Originally, two friends and I had planned to go to
see Brighton v Blackburn’s Championship clash, but
after both sides progressed to the fourth round of
the FA Cup the fixture was switched. Unable to get
tickets for Brighton’s game with Arsenal, we still
made the trip down to London (might as well make
use of cheap, non-refundable rail tickets!).
Rather than go to one of the few remaining capital
grounds left to do, it was decided to go to a
slightly more tricky venue to reach and the final
vote went to Reading for their FA Cup 4th round
tie with Sheffield United. I had heard nice things
about the ground and Reading’s fans being a fairly
pleasant bunch (albeit mainly from a Royals fan I
work with), so we plumped for an afternoon our in
Berkshire.

2. How easy was your journey/finding the
ground/car parking?

We left our home town of Lincoln nice and early
and, after a slight delay, arrived into King’s
Cross at around 10.00am. From there we nipped over
to Paddington and caught a train to Reading, the
second leg of the outbound journey taking around
25 minutes. After a couple of lunchtime pints in
the Monks’ Retreat (Wetherspoon’s pub), we headed
back past the railway station to catch one of the
football special buses from the nearby bus station
in Garrard Street (which, by the way, is
signposted upon exiting the railway station). The
journey to the Mad Stad took around 15 minutes and
we were dropped right outside upon arrival.

3. What you did before the game pub/chippy....
home fans friendly?

The big dilemma with Reading is what to do before
the game. They really could do with a couple of
pubs outside the ground so that fans are able to
have a drink before the game, as there is
literally nothing to do in the surrounding area
(unless you fancy a look round the nearby B &
Q). That said, I did notice a screen outside the
stadium showing the lunchtime clash between Stoke
and Man City, but apart from a few burger vans
there is nothing between the Mad Stad and the M4
motorway.

We got to the ground early rather than stay and
have a couple more pints so we got a place on one
of the buses (I had heard that leaving it late may
mean you miss out and face a 3.5 mile hike to the
ground). After collecting our tickets, eventually
decided to get in early and had a drink on the
concourse and watched the remainder of the early
kick off. The Reading fans certainly seemed quite
a pleasant bunch – certainly what you’d expect
from a refined county like Berkshire!

4. What you thought on seeing the ground, first
impressions of away end then other sides of the
ground?

The ground was built in 1998 and I remember fans
that went there within its first few years raved
about how futuristic it was. While plenty of
‘soulless bowls’ have sprung up around the country
since then, the Mad Stad still looks pretty
impressive and seems a little more authentic than
some others. I was sat in the only two-tiered part
of the stadium and had a seat right next to the
Directors’ Box. The views across the pitch were
excellent. The other sides are all symmetrical of
one another and the relatively steep incline seems
to offer decent views of the action. The ground is
totally enclosed, which helped create an
atmosphere even though it was only half full.

The concourses were your usual breeze block affair
and to be honest I had been hoping for a bit more
considering the stadium was supposed to have been
built with no expense spared. The food on offer
was fairly standard and beer is available,
although I believe they do not sell alcoholic
drinks to away fans. Home fans are rarely bothered
by stewards and the same was to be said for the
Mad Stad, although whether that was the case for
the away fans is questionable given that a few
Sheff Utd fans got quite ‘rowdy’ throughout the
game.

As for the match, Reading effectively killed the
contest early on by going ahead through Noel Hunt.
The Blades, to their credit, came back but had
left their shooting boots at home, spurning a few
decent opportunities. Reading doubled their lead
just before half time with a really decent second,
and outclassed the opponents with a third and
fourth after the break. It was a pretty routine
victory for the Royals and it was hard to believe
that only two years ago both sides were
run-of-the-mill Championship, such is the gulf
that now exists between them. Even though the
Reading fans appeared at first glance to be quite
‘safe’ (the club is, after all, sponsored by
Waitrose), they certainly bit back at the visiting
fans with some great chants...although I will
refrain from repeating them on a family-friendly
football ground website such as this!

6. Comment on getting away from the ground after
the game:

After the game we headed for the shuttle bus and
there were six or seven of them waiting to take
fans back into town – a very well-drilled
operation that ran like clockwork. There were lots
of fans queuing up for the buses but stewards were
on hand to shepherd people in quickly and
efficiently. Before we knew it we were on a train
bound for Paddington and, after something to eat
and a couple of post-match pints, we headed for
King’s Cross and made it back to Lincoln for about
10.40pm.

7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out:

I liked the Mad Stad and the fact that Reading
played well, the ground is nicely designed and the
ticket was only £15 (bargain) made up for the fact
that it is some way away from the town centre and
is plonked right in the middle of nowhere. I am
not a fan of out-of-town grounds and long for the
days where stadia are only ten minutes’ walk from
the station and are surrounded by pubs and
chippies, but the Mad Stad had just enough about
it to win my approval.

The trip meant I became a step closer to holy
grail of the visiting all of the 92, which I
really hope to have completed in a couple of
seasons’ time. It was a long day out and it’d have
been much easier to go to one of my remaining
London grounds, but I was and am glad to have gone
the extra mile and ticked Reading off the list...I
can save some of the easier grounds for later.